VICTORY: New Mexico State Senate Defeats Abortion up to Birth Bill

A bill originally expected to pass in New Mexico that would maintain abortion on demand up to birth for nearly any reason was defeated in the state Senate on Thursday.

Afraid that the reversal of Roe v. Wade would make abortions illegal in the state, H.B. 51 would have made abortion up to birth for any reason, legal in New Mexico regardless if the 1973 Supreme Court got overturned. Fortunately, the bill was denied with a 18-24 vote, with 16 Republicans and eight Democrats opposing the bill, according to the Associated Press.

“Sponsored by state Rep. Joanne Ferrary, the bill would have repealed a statute from the 1960s that prohibits abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threats to the mother’s life. The statute is not in effect because of Roe v. Wade. Without the statute, New Mexico would have allowed unborn babies to be aborted without restriction, even after Roe is overturned.”

One Democratic Senator, Gabriel Ramos, who voted against the bill said, “How can we protect coyotes, frogs, prairie dogs, chickens, but not the beating heart of a baby in a woman’s womb? The state of New Mexico must strive to protect and uphold the dignity of all people from conception to death.”

The defeat of this bill must come as a disappointment to “Catholic” Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham who said she would have wholeheartedly supported the bill. As Big League Politicspreviously reported on the Governor’s comments,

“As governor, I have pledged to sign House Bill 51, which would do exactly that.

Not simply because it will align New Mexico with established law, although it does, and we should all be glad to right a constitutional wrong whenever we can.

I support decriminalizing abortion because I have every intention of leading a state that values women, that empowers women, that listens to women.”

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